Paleolandscape Reconstruction Based on the Study of A Buried Soil of the Bronze Age in the Broadleaf Forest Area of the Russian Plain

Elena Aseyeva,Olga Khokhlova,Fatima Kurbanova,Alexandra Golyeva,Alexey Rusakov,Tatiana Puzanova,Evgeniy Mihailov,Alexander Makeev,Pavel Kust

doi:10.3390/geosciences9030111

Abstract

Late Holocene landscape evolution at the southern frontier of the forest belt of European Russia is studied based on detailed morphological, analytical and microbiomorphic research of a soil chronosequence that included a surface soil and a soil buried under the Bronze Age kurgan. Both soils (Folic Eutric Cambisols) are formed on similar geomorphic surfaces in the same parent material and in close proximity to each other. The soil morphology and the key analytical features are controlled by low-reactive parent material and imply close similarity of the present landscapes and those of the Bronze age. At the same time the morphological features show that the buried soil was influenced by the phase of weak aridization, which led to the formation of a dark mull humus horizon. Microbiomorphic assemblages (phytoliths, pollen) support the earlier conclusion that the soils of the study area had being developed mostly under forest vegetation.

Highlights

The Russian plain in the second half of the Holocene was inhabited by people of various civilizations
Numerous paleolandscape reconstructions of Holocene soils conducted in the forest-steppe, steppe, dry steppe and semi-desert areas of the Russian plain revealed distinct changes in soil features caused by alternating wet and relatively dry climatic cycles [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
The soil is formed on an upland slope with a gradient less than 5◦ under broadleaf forest dominated by Acer platanoides and Quercus robur and admixture of Tilia cordata and Ulmus laevis

Summary

Introduction

The Russian plain in the second half of the Holocene was inhabited by people of various civilizations They left numerous earth burial mounds (kurgans) of the Middle to Late Holocene age. These ancient constructions, well documented by archaeologists, often preserve buried paleosols which contain clues about palaeoenvironments because many soil properties are associated with a particular environmental situation [1,2,3,4,5]. Numerous paleolandscape reconstructions of Holocene soils conducted in the forest-steppe, steppe, dry steppe and semi-desert areas of the Russian plain revealed distinct changes in soil features caused by alternating wet and relatively dry climatic cycles [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Paleopedological, radiocarbon and archeological data collected in this region revealed two main Holocene stages of pedogenesis: a humus accumulation (steppe) stage during the early and middle Holocene, followed by a humus degradation (forest) stage during the late

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